Self-important customers

This didn't happen to me, but I witnessed it. I work in a large retail store, and today a guy came in with a fruitcake that was a year old. The fruitcake was old and hard, since it had gone past the expiration date, but the man thought that it would last 12 years because he didn't understand the expiration date when he bought it. It turns out it had gone bad after a few months or something and he was pissed. He starts yelling at the cashier (who didn't have anything to do with the original purchase) and demanding to see the manager. He's going on and on about this $10 fruitcake and how he is going to sue our store. I'm always extra courteous when I buy something at a store because I know how moronic and self-important some customers can be. It's like they just expect employees to bend over backwards for them.

I've had people like this in my store before. Had a customer try to return milk she bought a few days ago because it had gone off, she'd drunk 90% of it....a couple of drops in the bottom were all that were left and they didn't look gone off at all.

The sad part about stories like this is that those people, while being douchebags, are the ones that almost always end up ahead in stupid situations like these, whereas the nice guys usually get screwed.

There was a huge traffic jam where I was going yesterday because of veterans day weekend. It was only a traffic jam into the town I was going, so the offramp had a really long line while the rest of the freeway was traffic-free.

Anyway, while sitting in said line for an hour, every now and then there'd be that guy that drives past the line of 100 cars and then stops in the middle of the freeway and puts his blinker on to skip everyone in line. They'd always be let in, because they were essentially fucking traffic up where it didn't need to be fucked up (on the freeway). I'd always think, "Wow, what dickheads", but they're the ones who didn't have to wait in line for an hour.

Whenever someone comes in and demands to speak with a manager, I call a manager.

Thing is, if you're a cashier, you can't just leave your post because there's some butthurt person who wants to speak with the manager. I know there's the mic to call for help and all that, but some people don't know or care about that since they are just pissed, which is annoying.

Saw this type of thing happen once, the manager came over and basically told the woman "off is the general direction in which I would like you to fuck." Not in those particular words, of course, but it was refreshing to see someone complaining about nothing basically told to cut the crap and get over it. As far as I know, nothing ever came of her threats for legal action, either.

The sad part about stories like this is that those people, while being douchebags, are the ones that almost always end up ahead in stupid situations like these, whereas the nice guys usually get screwed.

There was a huge traffic jam where I was going yesterday because of veterans day weekend. It was only a traffic jam into the town I was going, so the offramp had a really long line while the rest of the freeway was traffic-free.

Anyway, while sitting in said line for an hour, every now and then there'd be that guy that drives past the line of 100 cars and then stops in the middle of the freeway and puts his blinker on to skip everyone in line. They'd always be let in, because they were essentially fucking traffic up where it didn't need to be fucked up (on the freeway). I'd always think, "Wow, what dickheads", but they're the ones who didn't have to wait in line for an hour.

My favorite are the people, when 2 miles back there's a sign that says "Left lane ending, lanes merging," who then proceed to wait the entire 2 miles until the last second to try and merge. Then on the other side you get the people who decide they're going to use the breakdown lane instead, which works well for 200 feet until they crash into the traffic from an on ramp, and then they try to get into the lane proper, causing more unnecessary delays. Last time I just had my car half in the right lane, half in the breakdown so no one could pass. Fuck waiting longer for their causing more problems.

There should be more police on the roads, and drivers caught doing that shit should have a 30 day suspension of license and required to re-take driving courses. There should be approximately 0 reason to ever be stopped on a highway.

They can dynamite Devil Reef, but that will bring no relief, Y'ha-nthlei is deeper than they know.

Thing is, if you're a cashier, you can't just leave your post because there's some butthurt person who wants to speak with the manager. I know there's the mic to call for help and all that, but some people don't know or care about that since they are just pissed, which is annoying.

I am a cashier, and if my manager doesn't want to come up to the desk, I tell the customer where the manager's office is. I'm hardly paid enough to take shit from a customer who clearly doesn't want to deal with me to have my manager sit on their ass

Usually these types of people make a scene because while they know they're wrong, they just refuse to admit they made the mistake and take responsibility for it. So in their mind, the only option to "cover up" their mistake is to make all sorts of other wild claims and get all huffy in the face of an employee in the hopes they'll bend and receive something. They know that escalating the situation makes it seem more important and to shift the onus onto the store, but as you said, it was just a $10 cake. Either way they "win", and will go to great lengths to maintain their state of ignorance.

Why? Because it has worked for them in the past, so they feel entitled. Unfortunately stores being overly nice with their policies will be taken advantage of by these types of people looking to nickel and dime their way through life.

I worked at EB games for 5 years. I once had a woman try to get a refund on counterfeit GBA games without a receipt. She claimed to have bought them at our store within the last week (BS). She ranted, raved, swore and when she didn't get what she wanted, she complained to my area manager. I even told her, I would gladly do it, if she had a receipt, despite our system indicating we had not sold ANY copies of the game in her possession for over 2 months. And yes, I got grilled over this by my manager who told me 'I should have just done it'. /facepalm

"Video games only exist, so that idiots have something to be good at" - Joe Hildebrand

The sad part about stories like this is that those people, while being douchebags, are the ones that almost always end up ahead in stupid situations like these, whereas the nice guys usually get screwed.

There was a huge traffic jam where I was going yesterday because of veterans day weekend. It was only a traffic jam into the town I was going, so the offramp had a really long line while the rest of the freeway was traffic-free.

Anyway, while sitting in said line for an hour, every now and then there'd be that guy that drives past the line of 100 cars and then stops in the middle of the freeway and puts his blinker on to skip everyone in line. They'd always be let in, because they were essentially fucking traffic up where it didn't need to be fucked up (on the freeway). I'd always think, "Wow, what dickheads", but they're the ones who didn't have to wait in line for an hour.

More like they are let in because somebody is too afraid to scratch their car when the guy squeezes in. I just refuse to let them in if they do it, sometimes I just sit next to them even after the line has moved so they can't get in. They move forward, I move forward and block them. Learn to fucking line up like everybody else. Scream and honk all you want, you're not getting in front of me.

Anyway back OT, just had this kind of customer in the restaurant I work at. Just to make things simple, he ordered a pizza (wasn't a pizza, just using an example) which we only have 1 type.
When it came he went "that's not what I ordered. I ordered the 1 with different toppings"
"Sir, there isn't any other pizza. This is the only 1 we have"
"Yes I ordered a pizza, but not that 1."
Felt like just throwing the dish at his face =/

It really is amazing how many customers are real jerks. Sad to say I noticed there are more unpleasant people then nice people. If you want to see some real fun, watch how angry people get around a self check out, because they don't want to read or listen to how to use the machine. Then Complain about using self check out and how much they hate it. Best part of that is they walked past cashiers who had no customers.

People love to complain, if something is going well, they don't tell you. OR they look at you like your a robot, and you are less then a person. Yes working retail for about 10 years makes you think less of people. The nice ones are rare. I think the reason for being jerks are they know we can't say anything back to defend ourselves etc.

I think the worst experience I ever had was this person who came up from behind me and pushed me demanding to be checked out next when there was a line a head of them.

---------- Post added 2012-11-14 at 03:13 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Garnier Fructis

You are my hero. I especially hate it when I'm stuck in traffic going 10 mph, and some asshole drives down the breakdown lane at 70 mph.

I seen the big trucks pull over and cut some of those people off. This will be old school, but I heard conversations on CB radios from truckers who were passing the message down the line to cut those guys off

Whenever someone comes in and demands to speak with a manager, I call a manager.

That's exactly what I do as well. The managers always handle things from there so I don't have to

Though, unlike your other post, my manager always comes (well one of them, we have two. Manager and a 2IC manager, both are the same thing though when talking about customer service but it's usually the 2IC manager I call and that comes)